Prichard residents await vote on Water Takeover Bill

PRICHARD, Ala. (WALA) - Severia Morris has been battling high water bills in Prichard for years.

"People are suffering the same way they were suffering three years ago. Senior Citizens still have to make a choice whether to pay that water bill or to buy their medication," Morris said.

However, Morris hopes a bill in the Alabama legislature will provide the relief she and others said they need.

The bill would clear the way for Mobile Area Water and Sewer to take over the Prichard Water system. It would also affect people in Chickasaw.

Chickasaw city council member Adam Bourne said people in both cities are getting Mobile water anyway. They're just paying a lot more for it.

"What they do is they buy the water from MAWSS actually, and then they run it through their infrastructure to us. Unfortunately, they up the price quite a bit from what MAWSS charges them," Bourne said.

Bournes said political fighting threatened to kill the bill in this session.

"For a while it looked like the bill was in serious jeopardy. Thankfully, as of last night, it looks like a compromise may have been reached between several of the state representatives that will allow the bill to proceed," he said.

If the bill makes it through the legislature, it would conquer a major hurdle in dissolving the Prichard Water Board, but the voters in the city would have the final say.

"It will become a referendum, and the citizens will have an opportunity to vote, and that's really what we're asking for," Morris said.

The attorney for the Prichard Water Board said the utility is opposed to the bill. According to Willie Huntley, the takeover doesn't guarantee lower water bills.

However, a spokesperson for MAWSS said he expects it will.

Thursday is the last day of the regular legislative session.